I was just cleaning out clutter, and…

I happened upon this genuine email response to an exchange between me and a former client of mine almost exactly three years ago. I have chosen not to share what he wrote to me.

I have changed the name of the original client to Wilson for confidentiality reasons. When reading it, I was thinking, just how much I have grown both professionally and personally since this communication; I have chosen not to use the WP proof reader, as I want it to remain authentic. Well, see it below.

Oh, and there is a link to a site in my reply that you’re welcome to click through and use.

Wednesday 15, February, 2012

Dear Wilson,

Let me address your open and candid note.

You are 100% correct, lying offers no long-term benefit. In the short-term it may disguise, divert, distort, deviate, deny, disrupt and dampen whatever it is you seek to achieve. In the long-term it will ultimately, and surely destroy many of the good things you have nurtured prior to CHOOSING to lie, and moreover any potential good, that is definitely heading your way.

Good things ‘definitely heading your way’ is worth repeating silently and loudly… only change the your, to ‘my’ and repeat it everyday.

We are the subjects of our up-bringing, our environment, our education, our social groups, but most certainly, our thinking!

Wilson, you have expressed how frequently you were beaten for lying, and for not lying, because as I suspect, after a while, trust between you and your father was literally beaten away. I won’t comment too much on this, as being beaten by a parent; right or wrong is a topic that requires much deeper analysis than a mere comment here.

However Wilson, those incidents cannot easily be extinguished, they are a part of who you were, but not necessarily a part of what you can and will become.

This as I am sure you are aware, is entirely your choice – you can let your past access your present if you choose, and subsequently sabotage your present, or you can use your past as a rock solid benchmark for your future – something you have wonderfully shown to be doing with your son.

So STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP; if you will excuse the pun, or hanging onto the pain from those events – it achieves little now, or into the future, unless you allow it to.

Take it from me, you have much to celebrate, and be thankful for – those events have led you here.

What I find admirable in you, is change is already fully underway, and you know it; this for me speaks volumes of who you are Wilson.

You know what your responsibilities now in mid-life are, and should be. You know that you have something remarkable and worth cherishing in your hands. You also know that in the past you have taken a left turn, when you should have turned right; and you can now reflect on why too.

Wilson, you just know!

What is particularly exciting right now, is that you are not stopping there. No, you fully recognise and accept that you have weaknesses; flaws that if left unchecked, can undo much of what you have gained in recent years.

The fact that you have sought my support, is clearly indicative that leaving it unchecked is not on your radar…

Wilson, I give my commitment, that as long as I am your coach, you will not be allowed to call on your weaknesses to dilute your strengths, it WILL NOT HAPPEN, but I must demand your total commitment too.

Not accepting and liking who you are, and what you represent to others is the basis for all LIES.

A lie is a MASK, it is nothing more than that. Deviance and the wish to gain unfair advantage is a false motivation for its use. Accept yourself, LOVE yourself, and others will accept and LOVE YOU, the REAL you!

This is what you deeply would have been yearning for as a boy, and Wilson, trust me, this is what you will want in old age – ACCEPTANCE.

Remember how were told, ‘Once a man, twice a child’?

I have accepted everything you have told me, it hasn’t entered my mind that you have embarked on another false journey, and I am a passenger along the way.

It’s because of your honesty and TRUTH, that success is profoundly assured. These three qualities are the happiest of siblings. Add to it, determination, a positive mental condition, humility, confidence, love, and the depth of character you clearly have to arrive at this very moment in your life, and there really is NOTHING you cannot achieve Wilson.

Wilson, I recognise your professional status matters to you; I will not negate the other important activities in your life, but will place greater emphasis with your permission, on your career and professional development.

Get this right, and I suspect, all else will fall into place.

As part of my forward planning, will you do do the following for me please… sign up to this site http://strengths.gallup.com/default.aspx complete the POSITIVE IMPACT questionnaire, submit for a score, and if you still wish to proceed with me as your coach, print off a copy of the report for your records or e-mail it to me for my confidential viewing please.

If you choose to go forward Wilson, I will require a private address to which I can post to you selected correspondence.

If you do not, this is fine, I will continue to make available words and writing of inspiration to the general public, and will always welcome your contact.

I have every confidence in you Wilson; I am extremely empathetic, and see a positive outcome for you, regardless of whatever method you choose to get there.